Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-03-27

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and we brought it up there and in two OF
three OF the girls social clubs beside
There were plenty OF girls who lived al
nome with their parents, but we found
NIFTY or more who jumped at the chance we
offered them and We're continually urging
US TO go ahead with the scheme. Finally
we began househunting. not at all sure
whether we meant to take place, even
II We found one to suit US, or not. we
were staggered by the city rents, as
matter OF course, and more than once
gave up the whole plan in despair.
"We felt like a trio Of gamblers, and not
at all ike the confident business women
We had been at the outset, when we
finally paid down the first months rent
for this mouse OF ours just four months
ago. We had staked our all on desperate
cnance, and the longer we looked at it the
more certain appeared the prospect OF our
loss.
at was a woman OF whom we hired the
place, and she put the figures as low as
she could afford, and promised Us con-
| sideration In any difficulties so long as
! there seemed a chance OF our final sue
cess. There wasn't money enough left to
! furnish very extensively, but we got to-
| gether the needtuls for the kitchen and
/ the dining room and put up as many beds
as our last lingering dollars would buy.
| The girls who mad promised to board with
us were eager to come, and most of them
had women's kuickknacks Of one sort
or another-tables or chairs or pictures
or bits OF fancy wOrk-that Frightened
up The bare place wonderfully and made
1t look from the first week almost like
home.
at was because it felt like a home that
we did not fail. There were fifty of us
the day the house opened, and the dining
room aud the big sitting room and the
railways seemed running over with a
flock Of delighted children. To have a
house to themselves where they could do
as they pleased was luxury that went to
their heads. They ran upstairs and down
stars, and the homller a nook or corner
was the better they liked it. 1t was a
camping out frolic, ana picnics were rare
enough with them all. They laughed be-
cause forgot towels in ordering the linen,
ana they laughed when the mllkman went
by without leaving the milk, They sat up
TIL past midnight sewing the long seams
OF the sheets. They unpacked their
trunks and settled the furniture and
hustled about in that first week OF con-
fusion in the firm conviction that the
whole experiment was the most delight
full Of jokes that had ever exploded in
their prOsaic lives. Nothing dis.
cOuraged them and nothing daunted
them. No matter what went wrong they
in every mishap only the materials for a
jest.
81 put the board as low as dared after
had calculated the rent and the coal, the
gas and the table bills. left the store, of
course, and my sisters did the same. The
three of us undertook to manage the
house, and once things got into running
order we found no great difficulty with
the scheme. L interviewed the grocer and
bn 1tfsh nd hn Fss.h ~
been experimenting from the start with
simple meals OF wholesome variety and
material. Seventy boarders was the ut
most number we had room to accommO-
date, and seventy boarders were on our
list before the first three weeks had gone
by. When the first month of our expert
ment was over we had money in hand for
second months rent and more in our
pockets than il we had stayed in the store.
After looking at that four weeks balance
sheet put aside the last thought of dis
aster TO my plan. 1t would work; it was
working ana patience and good health
could not help carrying it forward with
out fail,
The building in which this Cheerful!
paragraph Of the city's history is beng
written Is double brick mousse, abound
ing In multiplicity of small rooms, in
quiet by street. 1t Is not over furnished.
but it never groans at a sewing machine
nor Growns on canary bird, nor tangles
woman in rules ana regulations till she
strangles TO- fresh air. 1t has reading
room and germ OF a library, and it sup
plies nome comforts and home rest at a
charge not exceeding from So TO 81 30 per
week.
The latest project now under discussion
Is to put this working girls' enterprise on
more permanent ana substantial basis
by making OF the whole institution CO.
operative scheme. Low-priced shares of
a few dollars eacn Will be bought by the
women out of their savings, ard if it
seems eXpedient fund will be establish
ed for the purchase OF the house. what
will be the final outcome of these more
ambitious plans Of the working Girls
Cooperative Club" as the new orgauiza-
ton has dubbed itself, il is as yet TOO early
to say. The plans themselves are yet in
embryo. They may take one shape they
are quite as likely TO take another. But
the working women's hotel has had up ia
date common sense and mother wit con-
trolling its fortunes, and, il il keeps the
same hand at the helm, Is more than likely
to lind harbor and come into port in he
near future laden WITH the fruits of the
American girls business talent and exc
cutlVe skill. +. Z. IL.